Friday, August 31, 2012

We're approaching a 3-Day weekend, and many of us will be attending barbecues, picnics, and family events. Don't arrive empty-handed!

Instead, load up your slow cooker with one of the following crowd-pleasing dishes. I've listed the recipes in countdown order--- if you have a favorite, please chime in below. Happy Labor Day!

10) Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup. This is filling, delicious, and is different enough to gain lots of attention on the buffet table. Easy to stretch by serving rice, and fixen's like sliced avocado and tortilla chips.

9) Lima Bean Casserole Cassoulet. I love serving this to guests and listening to the conversation. "what type of beans are these?" "I'm not sure. some sort of large pinto beans or something?" I usually wait until the pot is practically empty before coming clean that they were lima beans.

8) Honey Lentils. Delicious, nutritious, vegan vegetarian, and such a fun offering to bring to a picnic. I get the nicest emails about these lentils!

7) Pesto Spinach Lasagna. I need to run to the store to pick up the ingredients for this! You have never had a better vegetarian lasagna. So so good.

6) Hirino Psito. This is a wonderful main dish to serve to guests. Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and beer mix together to create a savory sauce that perfectly compliments the sweet contrast of brown sugar and cranberries. Win!

5) Brie with Apricot Topping. To make this more user-friendly for guests, insert an oven-safe dish into your large slow cooker and load the ingredients into the dish. Then remove the dish (use mitts!) and serve with your favorite crackers (we like Glutino a lot). Do not add water in the crockpot around the dish.

4) Pomegranate Beef. When we host a dinner for new friends, I usually make this. This keeps picky older relatives happy, along with the kids (note to self: I need to update some of these photos!). I've made this for television audiences, and served it at the Disneyland Food & Wine Festival, where the kitchen chefs gave rave reviews, which made me cry. This recipe was also featured on Oprah.com!

22 comments:

That's the slow cooker I use. I love it! I admit that I haven't yet used all the fancy features since I am always home, but it's nice to know they are there if I need them. I second the recommendation. I won't be doing much celebrating on Memorial Day, as we are holding Potty Training Bootcamp this weekend. Yay!

I'm thinking of either sloppy joes, or the Salsa Chicken-as-nachos (both from your 1st cookbook) for this weekend. Hubby is taking the kids to a family get-together and has to do dinner for 12 on Friday night. He will be happy if I give him something easy!

Hi! I have a super-random question. I have 4 chicken thighs in my fridge and was planning to use them in the "Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken" recipe (I made it before with a whole chicken and the breasts were too dry). I was just reading the "Brown Sugar Chicken" recipe and it calls for TWELVE thighs! Are 4 thighs too few to cook in a crock pot? Thanks!

Love your recipes, but have always wondered--is there an easy way to print them? With all the ads and links on the page, printing the web page as is does not work. I've tried cutting and pasting to a Word document, but I'd love an easier way to save the recipes I try. Any hints? Thanks!

The Taco Soup and Potluck beans are both winners in my book. I've taken them to many events and always received compliments! The leftovers are wonderful too... Thanks Stephanie for such wonderful recipes!!

Also, to stretch #10 (Black Bean Salsa Soup) and make it a little more of a balanced meal, add a can or two of white corn kernels. Also makes it look more attractive. If long cooking this, add an hour or two before the end, or heat separately (stove/microwave) and add before serving. I took 6 quarts of this to our last church potluck and every little bet went.